


Step Back

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Foxtrot [119]
Category: Dollhouse, Sisters (1991 TV), Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Crossover, not actually RPF, tw: suicidal ideation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 09:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7216318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Any, Any, saving a life while out on a first date."</p><p>Brian and Rodney's date takes a surprising turn for the dramatic at the end. Set post-series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Step Back

After all the other dates Rodney had been on with the other imprints, he expected his date with Brian to be bigger, somehow. More dramatic. More...something. But it wasn’t. They went to a movie, and then they had dinner at a diner afterward so they could talk about the movie. Rodney wasn’t too clear on whether Brian was straight. He knew the Brian imprint had been for a long-term romantic engagement with a woman, but that didn't guarantee straightness. Brian had been pleasant enough, was socially savvy enough to keep up plenty of conversation without babbling incessantly or talking over Rodney. He was polite about opening doors and pulling out chairs without being overtly the ‘man’ on the date. He seemed smart enough, although he was a psychologist, and he was well aware of Rodney’s opinions of the soft sciences, so he said little on the subject of psychology.  
  
They were on their way back to their respective car - they’d met at the theater (for some reason Rodney was never allowed to drive to the date with John, always had to meet him at the destination with the imprint already in control) - when Rodney glanced up and happened to notice a person standing at the edge of the very tall building they were passing.  
  
“Brian,” he said, “is it just me, or does that look like a -?”  
  
“Jumper.” Brian went pale, but he wet his lips, squared his shoulders, and marched up to the building. It was some kind of apartment complex with several buzzers. He stabbed one randomly.  
  
“What?” The woman who answered had a nasal voice.  
  
“Hey, I’m here to see my friend. He’s up on the roof.”  
  
“Not gonna be your friend much longer,” the woman said, but the door buzzed, and Brian yanked it open.  
  
For all that Brian was a mild-mannered psychologist, he had John Sheppard’s body, and Rodney was left in the dust as Brian flew up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. By the time Rodney reached the roof, he was out of breath and probably red in the face, and Brian was a few feet away from the young man standing on the ledge.  
  
“ - Just come on down and we can talk.”  
  
“No, I don’t think so.” The man had a soft voice.  
  
“Okay. You stay there. I’m going to stay here. My date is probably on his way up, but he’s less fond of stairs and running than I am.”  
  
The young man turned slightly. He had ordinary brown hair and brown eyes, a forgettable face, the kind of face that belonged to every scientist whose name Rodney couldn’t remember.  
  
“You ran all the way up here?”  
  
“Well, yes.”  
  
“To try to stop me from jumping?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
Rodney wondered if this was how John had convinced Todd to help him escape from the Genii, with this soothing voice and calm, careful expression.  
  
“You don’t even know me.”  
  
“I could get to know you.”  
  
“You were on a date?”  
  
“Just finishing up, actually.”  
  
“Was it a good date?”  
  
“Good enough.”  
  
The young man darted a glance at Brian. “Your date was with a man?”  
  
“Yes,” Brian said calmly.  
  
“How did your parents take the whole gay thing?”  
  
“That’s complicated.”  
  
“I’m not going anywhere.”  
  
Brian smiled. “That’s what I like to hear.”  
  
The man turned and looked back at the busy street, and Brian inched closer.

“I’m here,” Rodney said, and the man turned to look at him.  
  
“Your date?” the man asked.  
  
“Yes. His name is Rodney. I’m Brian.”  
  
“I’m Zach.”  
  
“Nice to meet you, Zach. So, you’re feeling suicidal right now.”  
  
Zach blinked. “Are you supposed to say that?”  
  
“I’m a psychologist, not a trained negotiator,” Brian said. “They don’t give us handbooks for this sort of thing. There is no handbook. Every person is different.”  
  
Zach laughed shakily. “What are the chances? A psychologist just happened to be walking by while my life was falling apart.”  
  
“Was?”  
  
“Is.”  
  
Brian glanced at Rodney, lifted his chin. Rodney eased closer to him.  
  
“I’m not out to get my head shrunk, doc.”  
  
“I don’t have to be a psychologist if you don’t want me to be. I could be a negotiator instead.”  
  
Zach huffed and glanced at him again. “That easy, huh? Like flipping a switch?”  
  
“For me it is. I used to be an Active in a Dollhouse.”  
  
Zach closed his eyes, swallowed hard. “How do you deal?”  
  
“With what?”  
  
“The memories. That aren’t your own. Of other people touching you and using you and -” Zach cut himself off with a pained cry and swayed forward.  
  
Brian dove. He caught Zach around the waist and dragged him backward off the ledge. Zach went kicking and screaming, sobbing, but then Brian was gone, replaced by one of the law enforcement imprints.   
  
“Rodney! Call the police.”  
  
Rodney immediately fumbled for his phone.  
  
When the police arrived, Brian had Zach wrapped in a tight embrace, rocking him while he sobbed.   
  
A couple of paramedics helped Zach to his feet and escorted him down the stairs.  
  
“Names?” one of the police officers asked.  
  
“Brian Kohler-Voss. I mean - John Sheppard.”   
  
Officer Maxwell raised his eyebrows. “Which is it?”  
  
“John Sheppard. I’m sorry - I was switching between multiple imprints to keep the kid from jumping. Brian’s a psychologist and the hostage negotiator is also named John. The Dollhouse programmers got really lazy with names.”  
  
Officer Maxwell glanced up from his notepad. “Dollhouse?”  
  
“Yes. I’m a former Active. I’m guessing Zach is, too, based on some of what he was saying. He can get some specialized professional help.” John cast Rodney an apologetic look.  
  
“So...one former Dollhouse Active just happened upon another one who was suicidal?” Officer Maxwell’s expression was impassive but the skepticism in his voice was obvious.  
  
“I wouldn’t have noticed him if Rodney hadn’t pointed him out,” John said. “I mean - Brian wouldn’t have. He’s not as observant of his physical surroundings as some of the other imprints.”  
  
“You’re Rodney?” Officer Maxwell glanced at him.  
  
“Meredith Rodney McKay.”  
  
Officer Maxwell made a note. “So, what made you decide to try to talk the man down on your own, instead of calling the authorities?”  
  
“If the woman who buzzed us up here was any indication,” Rodney said, “others in the building were aware Zach might jump and didn’t call either.”  
  
John sighed. “Brian’s father committed suicide. He’s a psychologist. Suicide wigs him out pretty badly. And one of my imprints is a hostage negotiator, so he wasn’t thinking so rationally when he came charging up the stairs.”  
  
Brian’s father had committed suicide? Rodney hadn’t liked his parents, but he couldn’t imagine having grown up without the both of them, though at times he’d wished either one or both of them gone.

Officer Maxwell pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Talk to me about how you talked him down.”  
  
“It wasn’t going well till I admitted I - Brian - was a former active, and he was distracted enough that one of that I - me, John Sheppard, trained soldier - felt I could tackle him away from the edge, and when I saw the opening, I took it.”  
  
“So wait, Brian came up the stairs, the hostage negotiator talked to Zach, and John tackled him.” Officer Maxwell sighed. “You know what, the kid’s alive, probably wouldn’t be if not for you. I’ll write this up and call if I have any follow-up questions. Can I get your number and address? Work or home?”  
  
“Let me give you both,” John said, “just in case.”  
  
“If you have problems trying to figure out how to include imprints in your report,” Rodney said, “you might want to try asking Lieutenant Colonel Evan Lorne, who’s stationed at Stargate Command with us. He’s got that kind of thing down.”  
  
“Stargate Command,” Officer Maxwell echoed slowly. He looked down at his notes. “ _Oh._ John Sheppard and Rodney McKay.” He flipped his notebook shut. “It’s been an honor, gentlemen.” He shook their hands, then turned and hollered at his partner, who’d been standing guard at the stairs to keep curious onlookers away. “Let’s wrap it up, Barton.”  
  
“Well,” John said, “that was certainly more interesting than the movie.”  
  
“Your definition of interesting is everyone else’s definition of perilous,” Rodney said. He sighed.  
  
John smiled faintly at him. “Well, you have Brian’s seal of approval. Let’s go home, shall we?”  
  
Rodney glanced at his watch. “Thanks to that ninety-minute delay, we can be sure that Evan and Joe will have ceased whatever hanky-panky shenanigans they’d planned for their evening and we won’t walk in on them in a compromising position. Again.”  
  
“I hope so,” John murmured.  
  
Together they descended the stairs and went to their separate cars.  
  
Rodney had thought that a date on Earth beyond the SGC’s walls would be safe and sedate. This would have been just another day in Pegasus. He’d been gone from Atlantis too long, if he was surprised by moments like this. John had, however inadvertently, brought Pegasus to him. Not necessarily in a good way, but Rodney realized that John - and all his imprints - felt like home, beyond the house they all shared.


End file.
